1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for bundling flat articles in general and for bundling and tying up used newspapers for recycling purposes in particular.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to conserve the many natural resources which go into the manufacture of newsprint, many municipalities require that consumers recycle their newspapers. In order to facilitate collection of newsprint for recycling, the papers must be tied and bundled into uniform bales.
The prior art is cognizant of devices for bundling newspapers, bags, and other flat articles. U.S. Pat. No. 1,246,923, for example, teaches a heavy-duty paper bundling press with a holder for a spool of binder cord and mechanisms for receiving and retaining in proper position cord for bundling. However, such devices are usually costly, bulky, somewhat unsightly, or difficult to use, and therefore more suited to high volume users in industry or retail business than consumers.
Newsprint, however, is predominately consumed in any community by a large number of dispersed households at the rate of one to three newspapers per day. Efficient collection of newsprint requires that a large number of cooperating households must be induced or coerced to save and collect their newspapers continuously, on an ongoing basis, and to periodically bundle the newspapers up in neat, tied bundles of prescribed size, for municipal or private pick-up. For household consumers, this means that newspapers must be saved, accumulated, neatly stacked and tied with string or cord in bundles or bales of prescribed size.
Because the profits of recycling in most municipal plans are not directed to the consumer, there is a need for a low cost, light-weight, compactly transported bundler that is very easy to assemble and use, and that will provide unobtrusive and not unattractive storage for used newspapers in the home.
Cardboard boxes have commonly been used in the home to store used newspapers, but these devices tend to be flimsy, unsightly, and contribute little to the reduction of the newspaper bundling task time.
In an effort to overcome these deficiencies, a newspaper bundler has been designed utilizing unitary paperboard blanks, string, and fasteners that is low cost, compact and light weight for efficient storage and transport to and by the consumer, easy to assemble and easy to use by the consumer, and easily decorated or printed to provide a tolerable or even decorative appearance for convenient location in the home to receive and facilitate bundling and tying of used newspapers.